Abstract

The following report is designed to be used in conjunction with 1 : 10 000 Geological Sheet\ud
TG 22 SE. Uncoloured copies of the map may be purchased fiom the Survey's offices at\ud
Keyworth. The district covered by the map is included in 1 : 50 000 Geological Sheets 147\ud
(Aylsham) and 148 (North Walsham). It formed part of Old Series One-Inch sheets 66 NE\ud
and 68E, and was surveyed at a scale of 1 : 63 360 by H B Woodward in 1875-1880.\ud
Accompanying memoirs were published (Reid, 1882; Woodward, 1881). The district was\ud
resurveyed at 1 : 10 000 scale by the present author in 1995-6, with Dr I R Basham as\ud
regional geologist.\ud
The area lies to the north-east of Norwich (Figure 1). The area is predominantly rural,\ud
although RAF Coltishall occupies a significant part of the western half of the district. The\ud
village of Coltishall straddles the southern margin of the district, and the smaller villages of\ud
Tunstead and Sloley straddle the eastern margin. Smaller settlements include Scottow and Sco\ud
Ruston in the east and Little Hautbois in the west. The river Bure flows across the south-west\ud
corner of the district fiom north-west to south-east, but has no signicant tributaries. It flows\ud
eastwards into the area known as the Norfolk Broads and ultimately drains to the sea at Great\ud
Yarmouth. North-east of the valley of the Bure, the land takes the form of a plateau rising\ud
to a maximum of just above 25m OD north of Scottow [280 2401, with the River Bure lying\ud
below 5m OD. Two almost dry valleys cut the platmu to drain south-westward into the Bure,\ud
while along the northern margin of the area the valley of Stakebridge Beck drains\ud
south-westwards into the Bure. The smaller valley in the north-east drains eastwards into the\ud
River Ant, and thence into the Bure. Generally, the Breydon Formation peats form flat\ud
marshlands at or just below river level. The area underlain by Upper Chalk at rockhead slopes\ud
gently up to around 7m OD, the Crag outcrop has significantly steeper slopes, and the Corton\ud
Formation forms the almost flat plateau surfac